Cannot format last terabyte of HD

[ProfoundGlee]

I bought a 3TB Drive but I can't figure out how to format the last Terabyte.

 

[aatje92]

You on 32bit windows by any chance?

 

[ProfoundGlee]

You on 32bit windows by any chance?

I hope to God not.

It says I'm on 64-bit.

 

[ProfoundGlee]

The HD Right now is in two partitions of roughly 1TB each. I am happy to make the last 800gb into a partition or add it to another...or well anything.

 

[Jeremy Allen]

This is really all you need!

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/i-have-a-3-tb-drive-windows-7-ultimate-wont-format/b1cc3811-f25f-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5

Good luck.

 

[ProfoundGlee]

This is really all you need!

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/i-have-a-3-tb-drive-windows-7-ultimate-wont-format/b1cc3811-f25f-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5

Good luck.

I don't want a partition larger than 2TB. Also, Windows is loaded on this drive and I'd prefer not to delete it and reinstall.

 

[Jeremy Allen]

Oh, you just want to format one partition of the Hard Drive? I miss understood the question? Woops, let me know, I'll try to help you tomorrow morning!

 

[ProfoundGlee]

Oh, you just want to format one partition of the Hard Drive? I miss understood the question? Woops, let me know, I'll try to help you tomorrow morning!

No. It's very confusing. When I installed windows it partitioned it into two partitions making up 2TBs worth of the HD but it left 700-odd GBs partitioned. It shows that it's there, but it's not formatted. The Disk Management Utility won't let me do anything with it either...

 

[aatje92]

Oh, you just want to format one partition of the Hard Drive? I miss understood the question? Woops, let me know, I'll try to help you tomorrow morning!

No. It's very confusing. When I installed windows it partitioned it into two partitions making up 2TBs worth of the HD but it left 700-odd GBs partitioned. It shows that it's there, but it's not formatted. The Disk Management Utility won't let me do anything with it either...

You could try another partition app to format the partition, or try it with hiren's boot CD i.e.

 

[Hawkeye22]

To utilize all 3TB you need to use GPT partitions, not MBR. If this will be a boot drive, you will need the 64 bit windows 7 and a UEFI motherboard.

Q. Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?

A. Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx#X-201104111922342

 

[ProfoundGlee]

To utilize all 3TB you need to use GPT partitions, not MBR. If this will be a boot drive, you will need the 64 bit windows 7 and a UEFI motherboard.

Q. Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?

A. Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx#X-201104111922342

I think at some point I selected Master Boot Record and not whatever the other option was.

So.... can you format a hard disk with windows itself, from itself?

 

[Hawkeye22]

To utilize all 3TB you need to use GPT partitions, not MBR. If this will be a boot drive, you will need the 64 bit windows 7 and a UEFI motherboard.

Q. Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?

A. Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx#X-201104111922342

I think at some point I selected Master Boot Record and not whatever the other option was.

So.... can you format a hard disk with windows itself, from itself?

You can't change the partition type without deleting and recreating the partitions, which means data loss. You will need to clean install windows.